The Journey to India- Part 1-Miami

It’s no surprise that Marcelo Doffo leads an exciting life! This month he will travel to India to do riding tour on newer model Royal Enfield and along the way he will be making a few stops, the first one in Miami, Florida.

The Blue Diana that started it all.

This all began with a lady named Diana, a blue Ducati Diana that is. Marcelo himself tells us the story-

“About two years ago, after a long time searching for the blue Diana, I found her. There she was on EBAY for sale by a man named Sergio. I bought the bike and started a friendship with Sergio, an Italian from Rome who now owned a mechanic shop in a town near Miami. Sergio’s shop specializes in rare vintage Ferrari’s and other models like Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Maseratti. For two years we kept in touch and promised we would meet each other in person one day, so when the time came to plan my trip to India, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to stop over in Miami along the way. I boarded a cruise ship and headed south.”

Off the boat in Miami

“I arrived safely in Miami and on Saturday morning, I rented a car and drove to Sergio’s shop. Once I arrived however, the shop was closed to the public.”

“I walked around to side of the shop, where found Sergio and his partner doing paper work. The first thing I noticed was the shop floor was spotless! Just impeccably clean and shiny almost like if it was wet, what a great first impression. Almost immediately, Sergio come out to greet me and it was like seeing an old friend. He began to show me around and the tour got more interesting by the minute. One of the cars was and old yellow 308 Ferrari, with no engine on it, which used to be own by Mario Andretti. We walked by a car under a cover that was worth around $18 million dollars!”

Worth $18 Million

“There were also several racing cars and many of the engines were out of the cars waiting to be overhauled.”

“Then things got even more interesting when Sergio asked me to follow him to an adjacent building where they had high end cars in storage and some for sale. Beautiful cars from Lamborghini Gallardo, F50 Ferrari, Jaguars and a Cobra Shelby.”

“What a pleasant surprise this entire experience was. First to meet someone like Sergio, who would later ask me to come to his home and meet his mom which is visiting from Italy for the holidays, his wife Gabriella and the dogs, just like old friends. And all because of a blue motorcycle.

Sergio and I said goodbye and now on my way to London to visit with Stephen Lord, another person that I met at the recent vintage Rally In Patagonia Argentina. Stephen asked me to visit and offered take me to the‘Royal Automobile Club of London’ one the oldest or the oldest automobile club in he world, which of course, sounded very interesting! The only catch was that I must bring a suit and tie..which I did.. It’s in my gear bag with my leather’s and my helmet.”